The squash is one of  the most  ancient plants, bearing numerous qualities. The squash gave high yield and is unpretentious plant, the fruit of which is long-stored and can be used as boiled, stewed, baked, fried product, and be added to bread, mush and pudding, and be prepared as puree, jam, candied fruit and other meals. Owing to useful characteristics the squash is a valuable source or raw  material for  food  canning  industry,  for  health-care and functional foodstuff production. Its best cultivar accessions contain to 30% of dry matter, to 12% of sugars  and  to  36%  of  carotene.  The  species  of  squash includes 4 subspecies and 20 varieties. One accession that came from Spain in 1937 served as an initial breeding accession for many other table cultivars for long time. For 80 years of national breeding program the many cultivars for  table  use have been released. There are the classic cultivars, such as ‘Mramornaya’, ‘Stolovaya Zimnaya’,  Gribovskaya Zimnaya’,  ‘Donskaya  Sladkaya’, ‘Michurinskaya’ that are selected or developed from first Spanish accession. This richness and originality of cultivar squash accessions should be carefully preserved. There are the new generation cultivars, such as ‘Kroshka’, ‘Malishka’,    ‘Rossiyanka’,    ‘Konfetka’,    ‘Moskvichka’, ‘Vnuchka’ and many others, which are short-tendrils and suitable for  modern  mechanized cultivation  technology. Moreover the development of new cultivars, bearing resistance to biotic and abiotic stress is the main goal of nearest breeding program.

In  2014-2016  the  assessment of  kidney bean  cultivars bred at Omsk State Agrarian University on yield capacity, quality, and biochemical  chemical compounds  in green beans, such as proteins, zinc, iodine, iron and sucrose was carried  out  in  the  south  forest-steppe  of  Western Siberia. The technological  parameters of  green  beans: the  shape  of  cross-section  area; pulpiness,  fibrous  or non-fibrous,  and bean thickness were estimated. Threeyear study showed that all tested cultivars bred at Omsk State  Agrarian  University  surpassed  control  cultivar  in yield capacity,  chemical composition  and technological parameters of green beans. The cultivar ‘Pamiyaty Rizhovoy’ gave a highest yield: 563.4 g/m2  in 2014; 622.8 g/m2 in 2015; and 620.4 g/m2  in 2016. It is worth noticing that this cultivar is also distinguished by contents of micro and macroelements: 21.20-28.68  mg/kg  of zinc; 0.012-0.018 mg/kg of iodine; and 1.8-3.2 mg/kg of iron. In the course of the study, it was noticed the dependence of  yield  capacity  on  hydrothermal  coefficient  (HC). In 2014-2015 the yield capacity was a lowest when the moisturization was insufficient at 0.7 HC. With increase of HC the yield was higher. With sufficient moisturization at 1.0 HC the highest yield of green beans was observed in 2016.  The estimation  of  kidney  bean  cultivars  bred  at Omsk State  Agrarian University showed  that  all beans were  distinguished  by  high  quality  parameters  in  the phase  of  technical  maturity,  such  as  pulpiness,  nonfibrous, thickness 0.5 to  1.0 cm, and green and yellow colors.  The  highest  protein  content  comparing  to  the control  cultivar  ‘Zolushka’  was  detected  in  ‘Marusya’ 23.60%  in  2014,  20.94%  in  2015;  and  ‘Zoloto  Sibiry’ 19.79%  in  2016.  The  observed  results  confirmed  that contents  change of  proteins,  sucrose, and  even micro and macroelements depended on the climatic conditions. In the hot and dry summer the protein content, depending on cultivar increased 18.31% to 23.60%, in 2014, and 17.81 to 20.94% in 2015. The same occurred  with zinc 19.63  to  28.68  mg/kg  in  2014,  and  20.14  to  27.54  to 2015;  and  iron  2.0  to  3.2  mg/kg  in  2014  and  1.6-1.9 mg/kg in 2015.

The analysis of the national seed market state really showed the high dependence of Russian food security on imported seeds. The government means for supporting the national seed production program undertaken in 2015 by Ministry of Agriculture of RF were very effective and took action as showed the data from ‘Roselkhozcentre’. Thus, the total land area used for seed production in vegetables, melons and gourds was increased by 48% that amounted to 2104.3 ha in 2016, and that was more than in 2015. Moreover, the vegetable and melon seed producers and breeders are worried about the facts of falsification and low quality. The main reason of occurrence of such seeds that are not meeting the variety requirements in the market is an insufficient legislative system and its lack of correspondence to the current seed production, conditions and up-to-date requirements. It is necessary to take urgent measures to revise the current state of legislative system in national seed production program.

The group of bee-pollinated hybrids of cucumber is one of the most demanded for growing in greenhouses in winterspring period. There are ‘Atlet F1’ ‘Karambol F1’ ‘Magnit F1’ ‘Kartel  F1’  and  also  hybrids  pollinators  ‘Kazanova  F1’, ‘Begunok  F1’  ‘Bodriyachok  F1’,  which  occupy  about  800 hectares of  area in  winter  greenhouses. All  hybrids  have attractive appearance, high taste qualities, and are transportable. Buttons are in a great demand and have a high price during  all  the  time  of  cultivation,  from  February to  July. However, the bee-pollinated  cucumbers in later period are also in need, particularly for end of year celebrations. The possibility  to  grow  these  bee  pollinated  cucumbers  like ‘Karambol F1’ in these terms of cultivation is regarded in the article.

The lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is widely known and favorite vegetable crop among people. In Europe the main production of lettuce is performed on protected ground with application of  artificial  light  sources. The artificially-lighted  culture  of salad became very actually acquired in the north. Previously, on the basis of multi-year studies on yield registration and experiments with different regimes of lighting we have defined the appropriate parameters of supplementary lighting for lettuce with sodium high-pressure lamps that provided the production in different seasons per year. The aim was to study the accumulation of biomass and yield quality in lettuce ‘Aphytsion’ being grown in winter rotation under light-emitting diodes lamps. The accumulation of biomass and yield quality was studied in ‘Aphytsion’,  grown in winter rotation under lightemitting diodes lamps ECOLED-BIO-112-185WD120 UniversaLED (ООО ‘GK’  ‘CET’), Perm, in  industrial greenhouse OOO ‘Prigorodniy’  at Syktyvkar city. The commodity  output  was obtained  for  two  cycle  of  cultivation, November-December  and  December-January.  Yield  of foliage biomass was 2.4 kg/m2 with flow density PAR (Photosynthetically active radiation) about 90 μmole quantum/m2  s. at 20 W/m2 with total light energy 54 MJ/m2  supplied to plants from LED lamps. The plants produced about 0.5 g. of dry weight calculated on one mole of spent light energy. Energy efficiency of PAR was 3% that corresponded with data observed earlier with sodium high-pressure lamps. The conclusion was made about the suitableness of this type of light-emitting diode lamps for lettuce cultivation in winter rotation in first photic zone. It was recommended to increase duration of supplemental lighting up to 22-24 hours in December and up to 20-22 hours in January to improve the productivity and biological value of plant output. It enables to raise RAP income in plants by 35 %, on average for one cycle of cultivation.

The breeding program for daikon in Crimea was carried out according to the following plan: the seed sowing in the third decade of July, and root selection for economically valuable traits after 58-70 days; storage during the winter; planting in the short warm periods of February, under temporary tunnel coverage for parental lines used for hybridization; seed production in second decade of July; seed sowing in third decade of July; assessment of progenies in 58-70 days. The annual cycle was repeated until the constant lines were obtained. As result of that, the middle-maturing variety was developed, the periods from shoots to root formation, to root harvesting, to seed maturation were 26 days, 63 days and 90 days, respectively. Variety ‘Solol’ had 3% less of dry matter than standard variety ‘Klyck Slona’ and 10% higher than standard variety ‘Guliver’. The variety ‘Sokol’ had 6-14% more total sugar than both standard varieties. The variety was characterized by high ultrastability and agrochemical stability (86%), average value of yield variation V=13.6%, whereas correlation with sum of effective temperature, r = -0.34 and sum of rainfall, r = +0.58. The yield of daikon root in the variety ‘Sokol’ was 47 t/ha that was 27-31% higher than yield in the standard variety.

Tasks that were posed have been well proven and realized concerning the breeding program for beetroot in monsoon climate of the Russian Far East. The new breeding accessions suitable for further variety development with high immunological, productive and marketable characteristics, increased biochemical parameters, and resistance to highly moist soil and pathogens were developed. The biological and morphological features of growing seed plants in beetroot have been studied using the effective elements of selection with combination of promising agricultural techniques for tilling. Technological methods for early generation and marketable seed production have been improved. The favorable agricultural and climatic areas were found to cultivate seed plants of beetroot and produce the high quality seeds that preserved all biological and horticulturally valuable traits. The varieties of beetroot, such as ‘Uspekh’ (variety type Bordeaux), ‘Primorskaya Cylidricheskaya’ (variety type Granat), ‘Primorskaya 4’ (variety type Bordeaux), breeding accessions ‘POOS 22’ (Bordeaux, Primorskaya) were developed and included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements.

The results of research work on carrot seed growing through wintering seedlings carried out at laboratory of seed studies and seed production of Transnistrian Research Institute of Agriculture, on the soil of the first terrace at the rive Dniester were presented in the article. Seed bearing plants of garden carrot ‘Krasavka’ were the object of the study. The seeds were sown to produce the seedlings on 15-16 August. In the first decade of December the plants were covered with white agrotextile with density 23g/m2 that was removed at the beginning of April. The proportion of plant that passed the winter depending on a year of cultivation was 95-100% under argotextile, and 50-80% in open plot. The plants under agrotextile reached 28 cm a high and had 5-7 well-developed leaves, while those on the open plot were at phase of active foliage growing about 10-13 cm. long. Thus, for early mechanized planting in optimal terms the wintering seedlings grown under agrotextile had the best biometrical characteristics. Moreover the outcome of carrot seedlings was 1.2-1.25 million per hectare. Such quantity of seedlings was sufficient to plant 9-10 ha of carrot plants, where the coefficient of multiplication reached 9-10, and only 3 when growing seeds through mother plant as biennial culture. Viability of seed plants grown through seedlings was 100%. Losses of plant with weight 120-150 grams from damage caused by diseases was 23%. The seed yield, when growing seedlings was 639 kg/ha, but growing through plants was 332 kg/ha. The seed outcome suitable for precise mechanized sowing through seedling growing was 77%, where seed germination was 90%, with seed fraction 1.51 and >2.0 mm. It was essentially improved their yielding characteristics. Seed outcome from this fraction obtained through planting method was 32%. The proportion of seeds in fraction 1-1.5 mm was 68%. For mechanized single-seed sowing, the seeds can be used only after mini-coating. The seed growing from wintering seedlings fully excluded the application of fungicides for plant protection and seedlings from diseases; there are no expenses for building the expensive storage facilities needed for mother plant storing.

The experiments were performed during the two successive seasons of 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 at the Kazakh Research Institute of Potato and Vegetable Growing, Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. The experiment was aimed to study the efficiency of 117 different beetroot accessions for productivity and storability. To study the storability, 20 beetroot roots without any external sings of diseases were taken in two replications from each variety accession and left to be stored. The wet fresh weight of beetroots placed into storage varied from 132 g to 320 g depending on the shape and the size of roots. Beetroots were stored in polypropylene bags, which were placed on barred shelves 30-35 cm high. The storing temperature in autumn and spring period of time fluctuated from 3-5o to 6-8°, but in winter period it was 1-2°. The observed results showed that the gross yield of beetroot accessions ranged from 25.0 to 105.4 t/ha, marketable yield – 16.7 to 74.9 t/ha, marketability – 33.8 to 97.2%. Storability of beet roots mostly depended on accession genotype with different natural decrease of weight and root rot diseases. Natural decrease of weight varied from 0.0 to 12.3%, total losses from root diseases were from 0.0 to 90.0%. The analysis carried out showed that the link between yield capacity and storage characteristics was weak, R= -0,042-0,144. The correlation between storability and root rot was R = -0,516-0,644, that was stronger than it was in natural decrease of weight, R = -0.115.

The collection of carrot and table beet in Russia has more than 400 varieties and hybrids, included in the State Register of the Russian Federation. In domestic assortment of carrot, the proportion of F1 hybrids is about 50%, beet – about 20%. The most domestic varieties of root crops are characterized by a high level of adaptability with combination of high yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Varieties and hybrids of carrot and beet originated from domestic breeding programs exceed on an average estimation the foreign ones in contents of dry matter, sugars, betanin and carotenoids. They better retain high root qualities during long-term storage. In the breeding of varieties of carrots and table beets, it is important to take into account the suitability to machine harvesting. Varieties with erect leaf rosette and solid leaf attaching to the root head are better adapted to mechanized harvesting. The use of industrial technologies in the production of beet root in large amounts depends on the availability of monogerm varieties that gave mechanized formation of plantations. An important role in solving these problems belongs to the use of the breeding of a diverse initial material. The 250 carrots accessions and 165 table beet accessions were studied in the Pushkin laboratories of VIR (Pushkin, Leningrad region). Evaluation of collection accessions on the complex of valuable traits was carried out. As a result of study, initial breeding material for high yield, early-maturation, high quality of production, bolting, resistance to diseases and pests, suitability for mechanized cultivation has been selected and recommended.